Not even saying I think Viney should be the guy. But if he is, here are some reasons and some logic that play into the decision.
“To be honest I wouldn’t be the player I am right now without Chip,” cornerback Zack Sanchez said. “He has helped me tremendously on and off the field. He has helped me mature as a man and get me through tough situations.
“I never had a mentor besides my pops. It was a blessing he got here my second year. Who knows where I would be right now? He took me under his wing. He made me a better player and better young man. He has been the biggest part of my improvement than anybody else.
“I wish I could be 17 years old and be recruited by him. He’s going to bring so much energy. He just brings a different feeling to playing defensive back.”
From my 2015 (!) story on Viney back in the day day at Sooners Illustrated.
https://247sports.com/college/oklahoma/Article/Man-behind-the-scenes-Chip-Viney-105239611/
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“Personally, he has meant a lot to me,” junior defensive back Steven Parker said. “Just throughout the program, he has done a lot. Grabbing some of the freshmen guys and working them out and things like that.
“Him doing his part and making sure we’re ready even if we’re just watching film. We can always ask him a question. He’s one of those guys, knows a lot about the game, he’s played it. Somebody we can always go to man-to-man about anything.”
From my pre-Sugar Bowl story as Viney was about to leave for Nevada, again back in the day day at Sooners Illustrated.
https://247sports.com/college/oklah...r-Chip-Vineys-opportunity-at-Nevada-74935821/
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Why Viney? Because you don't leave a full-time gig like CBs coach at Nevada to be a recruiting guy again without thinking you're gonna get taken care of later. OU didn't make the move last year and went with Roy Manning after letting go of Kerry Cooks.
If you don't pull the trigger now with Viney, it's time for Chip to walk, right? This would be a third season of just waiting in the wings. That's rough. #GirlDad gotta make that money, too.
So you're OU, and you know Ruffin McNeill is gone. Your first choice is Joey McGuire. No doubt in my mind that McGuire was the priority. Couldn't make the $$$ work without making everything lose balance among the rest of the assistant salaries.
OK, option two is Craig Kuligowski. A little older than you'd like, but he has the relationship with Alex Grinch and Brian Odom.
You test him out, nope, just doesn't work. So now you start sending Roy Manning out onto the road to look at OLB/DE prospects to get him ready to make the switch because there's nobody else outside right now that you'd rather have.
Viney has been on the road the last couple of weeks, you feel good about what he has been doing. Even been on the road w/ Manning trying to land your mega-recruit in Alfred Collins, so there's clearly some trust there.
You know he can recruit, and you know he's gonna go all-out to recruit as a full-time coach who can be on the road. No more of this just being out there until a coach is hired. Now he's that coach, and he's going to show you why he should be the guy.
The salary won't upset the rest of the staff so the balance is there. The respect is there. Viney has been crucial for on-campus recruiting, even now.
He has the DB background. He'd have Will Johnson as a nice defensive grad assistant addition for next couple of years. You still have Grinch there to oversee things.
As great of a job as Roy Manning did at CBs, you know he'd kill it at OLB. That's his bread and butter. Guys like Nik Bonitto, David Ugowegbu and Joseph Wete would take off under his guidance.
You want a recruiting-oriented staff, done and and done.
Boneman's note: Since Viney has come back to OU, I've been told no every single time about talking to him. Two years straight of sorry, not happening. It's hard for me to try to get inside his head b/c don't know where he's at w/o talking to him face-to-face since 2016.
Again, not sure if Viney should be the guy. But you could make the case that you wanna take a chance on some young guys and start building your own coaching tree rep, DeMarco Murray and Viney a pretty good place to start.
